The Paul Lynde Show

"The Paul Lynde Show" was a short-lived ABC television series starring Paul Lynde from 1972 to 1973 .

etting

The show starred Lynde as the father of a family that consisted of his wife and daughter. Critics perceived the show as derivative of "All in the Family," then television's most-popular primetime program.

Production

Lynde's over-the-top comedic talents were largely wasted in a too-conservative and straightforward role. Chemistry between the main characters was somewhat lacking and many episodes had the misfortune of ending with the predictable crescendo of someone falling into Lynde's pool, an event somehow funnier the first five times they used it.

"The Paul Lynde Show" lasted only one season (26 episodes), opposite the first half of the Top 30 hit "The Carol Burnett Show" on CBS and the Top 20 hit Adam-12 on NBC. However, Lynde continued as center square with great success on "The Hollywood Squares" for years to come, until its cancellation in 1981.

William Asher, who produced then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery's sitcom "Bewitched," produced the show for Screen Gems as a replacement for "Bewitched"; Lynde had appeared numerous times on "Bewitched" as the "Uncle Arthur" character. The next season, Asher cast him as the male lead on his other show, "Temperatures Rising," which lasted until 1974.

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